Pitcher McCutchen wins 7th game of year

El Paso pitcher Daniel McCutchen has been throwing his best stuff in recent starts.

On Sunday night, the 33-year-old right-hander from McKinney, Texas, continued his excellence on the mound in leading the Chihuahuas to an 11-3 win at Southwest University Park.

The Chihuahuas (37-25) earned a split of the four-game series with Sacramento (26-38) and won the last two games.

McCutchen went six innings, allowed just one run, gave up just two hits and at one point in the game retired 15 straight batters. He also had seven strikeouts in the game.

Over the past 24 innings, he has allowed just two earned runs. He improved to 7-3 on the year and lowered his earned run average to 5.20.

"Five games ago, I had a terrible outing and since then I've been pitching better," he said. "My slider and my change up have been better. I've just tried let the defense play behind me and it has been great. I worked on some things with pitching coach Bronswell Patrick and I've been more consistent."

McCutchen was referring to his May 22 start against Round Rock at Southwest University Park in which he gave up 11 hits and nine runs in just 2 and 1/3 innings.

Rod Barajas(Photo: Courtesy El Paso Chihuahuas)

"Daniel is a veteran pitcher and he made some adjustments in his delivery which helped," El Paso manager Rod Barajas said. "If he keeps pitching like he has been, he's going to have a great season. He's working quickly and he's pitching with confidence."

Sacramento scored a run in the first on a walk, double and an error to go up 1-0 but didn't score again until the seventh and ninth innings.

Meanwhile, the Chihuahuas offense was once again very good. El Paso, which is hitting .313 on the season, scored five runs in the fifth to go up 7-1. Hunter Renfroe blasted a three-run homer, Carlos Asuaje had an RBI single and the River Cats had three errors in the inning to aid the El Paso cause. Renfroe now has 14 homers on the season.

Starting pitcher Ty Blach suffered the loss for the River Cats and is now 6-4 on the season. He gave up 10 hits and seven runs in 5 and 2/3 innings of work.

El Paso led 2-1 going into the fifth with runs in the first and fourth. Alex Dickerson drove in a run in the first on a ground out, while Ryan Schimpf blasted a solo homer in the fourth his 15th of the season. El Paso outhit Sacramento, 13-6 on the night.

The Chihuahuas added a run in the seventh on a solo homer by Jabari Blash to go up 8-2. It was his fourth homer of the year and the team has now hit 67 on the season.

For good measure, El Paso added three in the bottom of the eighth for the final margin. Renfroe had the big hit, a double that scored two. He finished the game 3-for-5 at the plate with five RBIs.

"We hit the ball well and we put together a big inning in the fifth which gave us momentum," Barajas said. "We're starting to put everything together with the hitting and the pitching."

El Paso remains at home Monday night and will begin a four-game series with Albuquerque beginning at 7:05 p.m.

Notes: El Paso is now 26-14 all-time vs. Sacramento and 6-2 this year...The Chihuahuas are 20-12 at home this year...Schimpf finished the four-game series 7-for-15 at the plate and is hitting .358 on the year. His 15 homers are second in the PCL.